Modern medical apparatuses are often controlled by a microprocessor that, for example, operates pumps, reads sensors and communicates with an operator via a user interface like a monitor, keypad and/or touchscreen. This user interface can make use of text, pictograms and/or graphical icons to guide an operator through the setup and give him/her necessary information during a therapy that is performed by the medical apparatus.
Thereby, parameter input is an essential part of such medical equipment. For example, extracorporal blood treatment (ECB) involves the continuous withdrawal of blood from a patient, where the blood is processed within a medical device outside of the patient and is then returned to the patient. Parameters like the ultrafiltration volume, the therapy time and the ultrafiltration rate can be input by a nurse depending on the patient's prescription, and the medical apparatus can then individually perform the therapy for each patient. Furthermore, the therapy can be monitored by the nurse via the user interface. Thereby, parameters like the arterial pressure, the venous pressure, the heparin rate, the dialysate flow, etc. are measured and displayed to the nurse for observation purposes.
Thereby, different people might prefer different information displayed on a screen. Thus, usability and the adaption of graphical user interfaces to the needs and preferences of the users are an issue, since the work of users is better and safer with a medical apparatus that fulfills her/his needs, and such customization becomes a focus area. However, there is a conflict between different user needs and handling problems.
Usually, there are different user needs at different locations and praxises, but this leads to handling problems, if every possible user need is accounted for. These handling problems have been created by the traditional answer how to fulfill the above-mentioned different user needs of different locations and praxises. This traditional way is in fact just packing everything onto the same user interface, which may be necessary by any user, any location and any praxises. However, this often leads to overloaded screens and menu structures of the user interface of an ECB equipment, and resulting handling problems have been reported from the field.
Furthermore, the customization is typically performed by technical staff after equipment installation, and the nurses have to inform the technical staff about the desired customization. Consequently, they have to decide at an early stage what kind of customization they prefer. If their preferences change during operation of the medical apparatus, it should be possible for the nurses to change the customization without contacting the technical staff again.